coming soon...

I am excited about this new book from Princeton Architectural Press, due out in the UK in November.

Handmade Nation documents today's growing contemporary craft movement, incorporating artists, designers and craftspersons who are inspired by radical politics, the punk movement and DIY aesthetics, as well as traditional handiwork techniques. The book brings together 24 makers from across the US working with a variety of traditional and non-traditional media and methodologies to provide a microcosm of today's crafting community, played out through a range of spaces such as websites, blogs, online stores, galleries, artists studios, independent boutiques and craft fairs. Documentation of makers, their works, their work environments and their processes are accompanied by discussions of how they got started and what motivates them, plus texts by Andrew Wagner of American Craft Magazine, Garth Johnson of Extremecraft.com, Callie Janoff of the Church of Craft, Betsy Greer of Craftivism.com, and Susan Beal, author of Super Crafty.

The people behind Handmade Nation, Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl are both based in Wisconsin. They have a blog, and there is also an accompanying Handmade Nation documentary (you can watch a trailer online on their website) in which director Levine travels to 15 cities to explore the burgeoning 'handmade' community in the US.

The illustrations and lettering for the new book are drawn by Kate Bingaman-Burt of obsessive compulsion fame - I am completely addicted to her wonderful blog, what did you buy today? in which she posts an illustration of something she has purchased each day.

Best of all, if you hop over to the wonderful my love for you is a stampede of horses blog right now and leave a comment, you'll be in with a chance of winning a copy.